Category: Opinion-OW

If ever the saying “it’s who you know that counts” rang true, it’s definitely in the world of the entrepreneur. At least from the standpoint of presenters at last week’s conference for women and minority entrepreneurs.

A lot of people have a lot of things to say about ridesharing. There’s no shortage of opinions on this new innovation. But as someone who partners with Uber, and delivers rides everyday, I figured I’d tell my side of the story: what it’s like behind the wheel.

Black folks have the ability to create our own conscious millionaires. We have certainly done it for others for a long time now. Conscious Black millionaires, by definition, would most assuredly use some of their money to assist the Black collective; conscious Black millionaires would not hesitate to use their resources to help empower our people; conscious Black millionaires would not be afraid to espouse the principles of economic empowerment and then use their money to support it.

Feidin Santana, the young Dominican immigrant who videotaped North Charleston, S.C., police officer Michael Slager firing his gun eight times, killing Walter Scott, an unarmed Black man who was fleeing, was a hero. His quick decision to videotape the unfolding action on his telephone led to the arrest of Slager for murder.

A federal magistrate this week ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to give an attorney video footage that she claims shows her client being assaulted by an officer in South Los Angeles.

The nation is up in arms over the recent spate of police brutality incidents, such as San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputies who kicked and pummeled a detained suspect. South Carolina police officer Michael Slager was charged with murder after he gunned down Walter Scott, an unarmed Black man fleeing a traffic stop.

Early in 2001, when I was the chair of the education committee on the Council of the District of Columbia, I was talking with the D.C. Public Schools Superintendent Paul Vance about the intense debate over standards at the time. Federal lawmakers were debating whether to tie federal dollars that were earmarked to the states to having the state’s school age children academically proficient by 2014. Under this proposal, those states whose students failed to meet this standard would lose their expected federal education dollars.

The African American community votes overwhelmingly Democratic. President Barack Obama was elected with more than 90 percent of the Black vote, and Sen. John Kerry and Vice President Al Gore also got the lion’s share of Black votes. But, not all Black people are Democrats. A significant number of African Americans are conservative Republicans, and they are becoming more prominent.

A man who sexually assaulted an employee during a takeover robbery at a Nordstrom Rack in Westchester, where some workers were ordered to strip down to their underwear, was sentenced Wednesday to 193 years to life in prison.

The Nationals Veterans Transition Services, Inc, collaborated with the Ford Motor Company to create The Freedom’s Sisters REBOOT Workshop, which celebrated their first graduating class this past Friday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Fifteen women veterans attended free classes, five days a week for three weeks, with the focus on employment and career development, and personal well-being.